


we can take the long way home

by janie_tangerine



Series: charity commissions 2018 [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Trailer, Awesome Shuri (Marvel), Bucky Barnes Recovering, Communication Failure, Emotional Constipation, F/M, Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M, Matchmaking, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trailer Spoilers, minor Peter Parker/Shuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 06:11:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14349564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: In which Steve and Bucky are emotionally constipated idiots who won't fess up to each other because talking about things is optional. Good thing they're also obvious.





	we can take the long way home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sarah1281](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah1281/gifts).



> SO, backstory: the nonprofit I worked for last year teaching Italian as a second language to immigrants/refugees is in need of money to renovate their locals and since I'm currently not making extra money I couldn't give them all the money I wanted to. So I'm taking commissions on tumblr as in, I'd write fics for anyone who donated at least a minimum money to the nonprofit in question, so in the next few weeks I'm gonna work on the aforementioned commissions/publishing them.
> 
> This one was for the lovely sarah1281 who wanted _Steve and Bucky where neither will make the first move because Steve doesn't want to pressure Bucky while he's recovering and Bucky feels too guilty/insecure because of all the assassinating and Steve being a hero_. Obviously it's the kind of plot that makes me want to go with third-party-POV who thinks they're being completely stupid which is how this ended up being 2/3rds Shuri POV but hey I loved her in BP and I'm 99% sure she'd figure them out in a moment, so here we go, I hope it's what you were hoping for  <3
> 
> Also: **spoilers for the Infinity War trailer with the reunion scene**. The rest is like, utter speculation and I'm making everything up.
> 
> Other than that: I absolutely don't own anything except the pseudo-crack and the title is from a Tom Waits song. Here, I'll just saunter back downwards now.

It’s not that Shuri hadn’t _suspected_ from talking to Sergeant Barnes - pardon, _Bucky_ , as he had insisted she should call him. She hasn’t even asked outright, true, but it was kind of obvious from the way he talked about Captain Rogers that they certainly weren’t just _friendly,_ or at least that Bucky’s feelings weren’t of the friendly kind only.

Then again, given that Rogers had given up pretty much everything including his title, his weapon and his country for him, she has a feeling that _friendly_ isn’t the right word anyone might use to describe those two - it feels so wrong it’d almost be embarrassing to use it.

 _Almost_.

Because what’s _truly_ embarrassing is what she’s witnessing right now.

Never mind Okoye’s jokes about not getting the Olympics and Starbucks, because they’re _certainly_ getting… _some_ kind of Starbucks, she supposes, just not the coffee chain. Point is: Rogers is getting off the plane, and Bucky’s standing _there_ looking at him with a look on his face that’s worthy of every single bad romance book she’s read without her mother knowing, not that her mother knows she’s read _any_ book of the kind. Rogers is looking at him in more or less the same way, except _more pathetic_.

And then -

“How’re you doing, Buck?”

“Not bad, for the end of the world,” Bucky answers, and they just _stand_ there looking at each other like two lovestruck fools with their hands clasped on each others’s shoulders except _just that_.

“Wow,” she mutters, “not even a hug?”

Nakia, who had been standing just next to her, merely shrugs. “I suppose it’s some kind of American limitation.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, I think they don’t do open public displays of affections in between men _that_ much.”

Shuri’s opinion of American limitations when it comes to public displays of affection is fairly low anyway and this won’t be what helps it. Still, she looks at those two and at how _longingly_ they stare at each other and she thinks the amount of repression oozing from the scene is completely off the charts.

Well, whoever this _Thanos_ menace for the rest of the world is, he’s still not _here_ yet.

She figures she will have some time to ask questions around, _if_ she manages to do it behind T’Challa’s back - he would probably remind her that the end of the world is nigh and they don’t have time to waste with anything else.

Which is completely ridiculous anyway - _exactly_ because it’s the end of the world you have to discuss things that are _not_ that, and honestly, if those two have a _thing_ for each other and haven’t acted on it until now they damn well _should_ before the world ends, if it ends, otherwise it’s just… sad. Uttermost sad. She _will_ do something about it, it’s not as if she can’t multitask.

——

She had planned to talk to Bucky first, but then it happens that T’Challa sends Rogers over to her to see for any last-minute improvements to his suit, given that she gave it to him years ago when he went underground and T’Challa _did_ learn the lesson that if something functions it doesn’t mean it cannot function _better_. So she welcomes him in her lab and proceeds to run some tests - she doesn’t know if she has enough time to enhance it with that same kinetic reflection power she had given her brother’s, but at least the kevlar’s held up nicely and it looks almost new, even if it’s been _very_ well-used.

“So, Captain Rogers -” She starts.

“Er, Steve’s fine,” he assures her. “I mean, I don’t even think I’ve got that rank anymore.”

“Fair enough, _Steve_. Is there anything _you_ have to suggest about any improvements I could provide?”

“Honestly? It was the best suit I ever got.”

“Really?” She grins. Well, she knows it is, because _she_ made it, but it’s still nice to hear it.

“Yes. It’s comfortable, it’s not flashy, it’s not - it’s _not_ reminding me every damned moment of what I left behind and I _do_ appreciate it, it’s also incredibly functional. I honestly don’t know how you could make it better, but that never was my area of expertise.”

“Fair,” she agrees, “I suppose you didn’t like the other ones much?”

He shrugs. “I joined the army because I wanted to do the right thing. I didn’t sign up for being an _icon_. And I don’t regret it because Bucky would’ve - probably ended up worse if I hadn’t, but I never wanted _that_. That said, a few were downright uncomfortable.”

Nice of him to give her the perfect opening, Shuri thinks as she checks her data. That said, she can understand why he doesn’t seem too glad to be back in the field, _again_.

“About _that_ , how did you find him? Did we treat your friend properly?”

“Are you kidding? Gosh, sorry, that wasn’t -”

“Please, as if I care about formalities.”

“I - I don’t think I’ve ever seen him better since ’43. That’s a huge compliment, for what it’s worth.”

“I can imagine. There is just _one_ thing I cannot imagine. Right, maybe two.”

“Two?”

“First, why haven’t you told me that you’re going around with gloves bought in some common market?”

“… I thought it wasn’t necessary?”

Right. _She_ definitely has time to work on _that_ \- it’s honestly child’s play. She throws Steve’s old gloves in the trash and opens a new hologram screen, setting in the right data.

“Never mind that, in ten minutes you’ll get better. That was the first thing. The second - Steve, not to pry, but it seems to me that if the only reason you don’t regret your life choices is that you saved your _friend_ ’s life and then you proceeded on forsaking your country, your rank and most of your teammates, and given that I’ve only ever seen you smiling while looking at _him_ , you two don’t look like you’re just _friends_.”

The hilarious thing is that he doesn’t even try to deny it - he blushes, slightly, and doesn’t quite look at her but at his hands instead, and suddenly he looks very, _very_ young. Then again how old he is, not counting the time he spent iced? Thirty? Thirty-two? Just almost twice her own age, which might seem like a lot but it’s really _not_ all things considered, especially if he originally went to war when he was _twenty-five_. Which is just seven more than her.

And fine, she’s fought Killmonger, but she hasn’t _gone to war_. Not yet, at least.

He also doesn’t answer.

“Since you’re not answering me, I suppose I was right.”

“What if you are?” He admits. She wonders if he’s not trying to deny it because he’s tired of denying it or because there’s no point if they’re all dying the moment this Thanos shows up. Not the point, anyway.

“Then I’m wondering why you haven’t told him yet.”

He stares at her for a long moment, then he shakes his head at once. “It wouldn’t be right.”

“… Steve, I can assure you that when it comes to being _more advanced_ than other nations, Wakanda _does_ count if it comes to not accepting retrograde views of -”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” he replies, smiling just a tiny bit. “I know _that_ ’s not the point. And I was in the army, _that_ was more common than most people would like to admit. But - he’s been through a lot, and he’s barely had time to recover before Zemo forced him to go out of hiding, and then he went through _more_ , and now he’s barely out of cryo, _again_ , and it wouldn’t be fair that I dumped this on him _now_.”

Shuri’s first instinct is replying, _and when else would you, if one of you or both dies in the next few weeks, given that we don’t lose in the first place_ , but she bites down on her tongue instead. “I think you’re being a tad too hard on yourself,” she says instead.

“He should - he should have time to take things easy and I shouldn’t dump such a thing on him _now_. It just - I’d feel like shit if I did.”

 _So you end up torturing yourself instead_?

Shuri thinks she’s heard enough, and conveniently, that’s the moment one of the compartments on the floor opens. She takes a step back as a small rectangular column rises up from the tiles, with a brand new pair of gloves on it. She grins as she takes them before moving next to Steve.

“I’ll give you the suit back within the day, there’s not much I can do with it when that’s my time window except to switch the worn-out parts with new ones, but for now have these. Extra-strong kevlar though it looks like leather, so you can wear them without the suit and no one would notice. Extra-resistant to _anything_ \- a crocodile could try to tear them apart, it couldn’t. Of course, it’s not tested against any unknown aliens, but it’s tested for known ones.”

“You mean -”

“If you had gone against the Chitauri with just _those_ , they couldn’t have torn them off you. Very useful in case of a zombie plague outbreak,” she grins. “And they can do the same trick T’Challa’s new suit does - if you punch someone with them, or someone punches your hand, it will harvest the kinetic force of the hit and throw it back at them when you want it to.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Steve says. “That’s - that sounds amazing, _thank you_ -”

“And another thing, Steve. You might not know, but we haven’t woken your _friend_ up just last week. It took months to come out with that beauty of an arm I made him, and it was going to take some two or three months of tests on _him_ to make sure it worked the way it was supposed to. What I mean is that he’s been with us for months by now, while I was working on the arm he was going to a psychologist and by the time you showed up, he’d been well on his way to become good friends with M’Baku - I think he’s gone to help them out with border skirmishes because it helped him _unload steam_ , and the Jabari were delighted with the help. Oh, and we found all the triggers, so he can’t _hurt anyone without meaning to_. My entire point is that if you think he can’t handle you telling him _you’re in love with him_ , you’re being kind of stupid, because out of everything he had to endure _that_ wouldn’t be anything bad, I think. And I would do it _before_ the world ends, but that’s up to you, I suppose. There, take your gloves. Your suit will be ready within the evening.”

“Shuri -”

“Just think about what I said, won’t you?” She grins, and after a moment he gives up on trying to argue, thanks her again and leaves.

Too bad that from the way he looked at her, she knows he’s _not_ going to take the first step.

——

Good thing that, two hours later, Bucky’s come in her lab for a last check to the arm - there’s most probably _nothing_ wrong with it, but it can’t hurt to give another look at it.

“So,” she tells him as she reads the data from the scan she’s giving it, “it must be nice to finally be reunited with _Steve_ again, right?”

“Yeah, if now it didn’t always happen when the end of the world’s happening, that’d be nice,” Bucky quips back.

“You know that if you want to talk to the man about your precious feelings you _should_ do it instead of clutching his shoulder in frustration like some Victorian lady, don’t you?”

“What - how -”

“ _Bucky_ , you’re so obvious that someone _blind_ would get it and I’m _not_ , thank you.”

He _does_ have the decency to look guilty. At least.

Then he shrugs with his good arm, not quite looking at her. “No way,” he finally says.

“No way.”

“Have you _seen_ him?”

“Yes, and I think he could do with another sixty years of vacation, possibly not frozen inside a block of ice.”

Bucky rolls his eyes as he bends the arm the way she’s motioning for him to. “He’s a goddamned _hero_ ,” he finally says. “I thought it was obvious. That’s who he _always_ was. And sure as hell he doesn’t have sixty years of assassinations on him, and let’s just hope no one ever finds out about _a few_ specific ones or I couldn’t set foot in the US ever again, for -”

“So the problem is that he’s a _hero_ and you’re _not_ when you didn’t even have a choice about it?”

“I could have tried -”

“Bucky, honestly, not to brag, but were you in cryo already when he _gave all of that up for you_ or weren’t you? Because T’Challa assures me you were plenty awake for it.”

“Yeah, and he _compromised himself_ for me and he’s lost half of his friends, I can _absolutely_ see how he wouldn’t resent -”

“Given that he just told me that the suit I made him was his personal favorite until now because it wasn’t _an icon’s_ suit, I have a feeling that he absolutely can’t care less for _being a hero_ ,” she snorts.

“He said _what_?”

“Exactly what I just told you, and honestly, you could’ve killed the president and he wouldn’t mind.”

Bucky _flinches_.

“Wait, _did you actually_ -”

“I don’t talk about _that_ ,” Bucky says, quite lapidary.

“Well, that just proves my point. If he knows what you did then he also knows _that_ and he still threw away that shield of his for _you_ , what a waste of good vibranium if you ask me.”

Bucky just _stares_ at her. “He can’t _not_ care.”

She’s _this_ tempted to tell him that Steve actually just told her the exact contrary, but - it feels like _too much_ of a breach of privacy, so she doesn’t.

“Your arm’s perfectly functional,” she says instead. “And honestly, if I were you and I wasn’t sure if I’d survive the next month, I’d take my chances.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow, looking _amused_.

“Says the one who actually isn’t having _my same problem_ ,” he quips back.

“That doesn’t mean I _wouldn’t_ take them if I had the occasion. I mean, if I _liked_ someone, I wouldn’t wait until _the end of the world_ ,” she concludes.

“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it,” he says, and if he was making fun of her she _would_ have punched him in the arm, but it sounds so self-deprecating it’s just plain sad.

“Fine,” she says, “then let’s have a bet.”

“A _bet_.”

“Sure. If I run into someone I’d enjoy spending my time with before Thanos inevitably murders all of us I _will_ let them know, and if _I_ can do it then so can you.”

“You know what,” he replies, “ _fine_. Let’s see if you really _would_. As if there’s room to choose - you are aware that it’s all going to be fossils like us?”

She shrugs. “You can never know. But yes, you’re absolutely fossils and you should stop it with your American masochism, it stopped being funny a long time ago. There you go, the arm’s not going to give you any problem.”

“Thanks, princess,” he grins, and if it doesn’t reach his eyes - she can imagine why.

Well, _hopefully_ even if the bet doesn’t go anywhere, he _will_ realize that both he and Steve are being complete idiots about _this_.

——

Fact is: she _hadn’t_ a clue of who else was going to be in this last-stand-against-the-creepy-alien-from-space thing, she just knew she would have to provide tech for a hell of a lot of people.

She had figured she’d end up talking to Tony Stark at some point.

She had no idea that Stark had a protege, who is actually around her age _and_ while definitely very rough around the edges and with in dire need of learning a lot _actually_ does know more than something about tech.

And he apparently could hold his ground with Steve when they fought back in the day or so they said, but point is - Peter Parker is kinda cute, and you can talk to him about engineering until he remembers he’s talking to a woman and starts going red in the face, and he _has_ actually helped out and given substantial contribution when it came to weapons upgrades to do in a pinch.

All in all, Shuri thinks he’s someone she absolutely _wouldn’t_ mind having some fun with at least while they're stuck here fighting a mad alien.

And if they actually die, well, at least she won’t have spent her last days moping.

So, that evening she walks up to Peter, who’s somehow managed to sulk on his own with at least some twenty superpowered assholes inside.

“Hey,” she tells him. “I suppose neither you nor me is busy later, right?”

He stops tinkering with a thing he’s wearing on his wrist that she _thinks_ has to do with the suit.

“Uh, well, unless you count that I could try to come up with some last-minute improvement to the web sling -”

“ _Improvements_? Interesting,” she grins. “Mind if I give you a hand? I’m getting bored over here and there’s only so much I can take of old men’s horrid fashion choices around this room.”

“Hey, I’m not _old_ and my fashion choices are impeccable!” Right. That was - Star-Guy? Star-Lord? Anyway, one of the aliens who came with Thor, except that he’s not an _alien_ , but fair point.

“I didn’t mean _you_ , your clothes are on point,” she shouts back at him before he goes back to arguing with Stark about _something_.

“So,” she goes on, “we can go find someplace without _that many people_ and I can help you out with _improvements_ , how about that?” She winks after, and he goes utterly red in the face.

But then - “Right. Right, of course, why the hell not?”

“Excellent,” she grins, putting an arm around his shoulder, and that’s when her eyes meet Bucky’s - right. He was standing on the opposite corner and he’s looking at her with something like _terror_ in his stare, and -

Ah, _right._ She hadn’t even been thinking about that bet, admittedly, but she’s definitely pulled her weight for now. She winks at him, _too_ , and she hopes it conveyed _well, I did take my chances, so how about you?_ , and then she leaves both him and Steve behind her in all their fossil-masochism. She did her part, now she just hopes at least _Bucky_ acts on it.

 

——

 

“Hey, is everything all right?”

“Uh, yes,” Bucky immediately replies, tearing his eyes from the door from which he saw Shuri disappear along with damn _Spiderman_ , who if you ask him should be in fucking _school_ , not _saving the world along with all of them_. The kid was too young in Berlin and he’s too young _now_ , but that’s neither here nor there - the point is that she actually _did take her chances_ , whatever it is those two are going to do outside. He just hopes it’s nothing T’Challa would murder the kid for since they _do_ need him.

And she _did_ look at him as if asking, _so what are you going to do about it_.

Well, for now he’s looking into Steve’s concerned eyes. And Steve’s obviously not buying it, except that really, not counting the whole part where it’s almost the end of the world and a sixteen year-old just told him to fess up to Steve when he hasn’t done it since the fucking thirties for a reason, he _is_ fine. Honestly, he can’t remember a time when he was _better_ in the last sixty years or so, and while he _does_ remember fondly the times when he had both arms, hadn’t killed anyone yet and could talk shit to Steve about the latest scifi novel he had read… well, it was the _thirties_ , everyone was dirt poor, _he_ was slightly less so, the money was tight, Steve would get sick at every other moment and he _did_ have to worry about what kind of food and how much they could afford.

“Really,” he presses. “I’m _fine_ , Steve. Or as fine as it gets. I just was - thinking about stuff. Nothing bad.”

Steve stares at him for a moment longer, then his shoulders suddenly don’t look _so_ straight anymore as he breathes out and lets himself relax for a moment.

“Good,” he says. “Good. I mean, this - ain’t ideal, I guess, but if you’re doing good, then it’s the least you deserve.”

Why the hell is he sounding guilty now?

“Steve,” he starts, “I _am_. Honest - shit happened to the both of us and I don’t relish the last sixty years or so but you couldn’t have done a thing about it, since you were _stuck in a fucking piece of ice_. We’re here, I’m _fine_ , I had time to work through a good amount of my shit, I’m not going to turn into some killing machine if someone speaks random Russian words to me and I think I’ve slept long fucking enough. And I don’t know about _deserving_ shit, so how about we don’t - put it like that?”

Steve’s eyes narrow - what, it wasn’t what he meant to happen with that little speech. He moves closer. Bucky can see that he’s itching to reach out and take his arm, but he _hasn’t_.

“Buck, that wasn’t on _you_ ,” Steve whispers, sounding almost pained. “You can’t think you’re responsible for things you did when someone else was controlling you.”

Which is what the therapist he talked to here used to tell him.

“Steve, one thing is knowing it, another is making peace with it,” he mutters. “But I’d just like to put that verb out of any conversation. It helps nothing. Anyway, the damned point is that if you feel guilty for what happened to me you’re being an idiot.”

“Well, I could’ve caught you on that train, for one,” Steve whispers, and he’s not looking at him anymore now.

“Steve, I _was_ there. You _tried_. You couldn’t have done it,” Bucky hisses back, wishing they were in fucking _public,_ though at least no one seems to be paying extra attraction to them. “And I don’t blame you for it.”

“Then what the hell was _this_ all for?” Steve replies, his hand moving from his chest to his waist before it falls down to his side again.

“What -”

“I went through everything I did to turn into some kind of _hero_ and then I couldn’t even fucking stop you from falling, got myself stuck into a block of ice and then showed up here like _this_ just to go around being _Captain America_ again? What a lot of good it did to me or to either of us if it was useless when it came to you.”

Does he sound _angry_ now?

But mostly, _what the fuck did he just say_?

“I can’t believe you’ve been beating yourself up about it all along, fuck’s - no, actually, I can _absolutely_ believe it, and that’s not a good thing, you know?”

“Well, I can’t believe you’re still talking about how much you wouldn’t deserve good things just because you were forced to kill people by the organization we _both_ tried to destroy since the forties, but if that’s how you put it -”

What - what had Shuri said?

_If he knows what you did then he also knows that and he still threw away that shield of his for you, what a waste of good vibranium if you ask me._

Never mind the vibranium.

It’s -

Fuck it to hell and back, Steve _really_ doesn’t care, does he?

And he still won’t meet Bucky’s eyes and it’s all so _wrong_ and they’re in front of he doesn’t even remember how many people but he can’t exactly go out _now_ , can he?

“Steve,” he said, moving his good hand to Steve’s shoulder, taking a step closer, “shit, you _really_ don’t care, do you?”

“Bucky, I threw that shield away for _you_ twice, of course I don’t.”

Fact is, the way Steve’s looking at him right now, it’s - Bucky doesn’t think he’s ever had any of his back-then girlfriends looking at him like _that_.

Which is making his head spin if anything because Steve shouldn’t look at _him_ like that, but -

Wait a _goddamned moment_.

“And you did it because we’re such good _friends_?” He hisses.

“Bucky, don’t -”

“Steve, how about you just answer the fucking question.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“It _wouldn’t be_?”

“You’ve been out of cryo without having to run for what, six months? And I should dump on you all the reasons why I did it beyond that just so that you have something more to worry about -” Steve starts, and -

Oh.

 _Oh_.

Bucky’s an idiot. He really is an idiot.

_But Steve, shit, Steve -_

“Steve, you really had some gall to say that I was gonna take the stupid with _me_ if you think that what you’ve said wasn’t the biggest load of shit I’ve ever had to hear, and I’ve heard a _lot_ of that,” he interrupts him, and then he puts his hands on Steve’s face, _both_ , usually he’d be more careful with the metal - pardon, vibranium - arm but right now he can’t really care less, and he just hopes he hasn’t read it wrong as he drags Steve’s head downwards and crashes their lips together.

For a moment nothing happens, but then Steve’s thrown his arms around his waist and he’s kissing him back with _way_ considerable enthusiasm, and Bucky’s been wanting this since the fucking forties so he thinks he’s going to take advantage of it, and if he moans into Steve’s mouth surely no one will hear and if they do _who cares_ , and given that Steve’s kissing him like he was starved for it he definitely hadn’t read _anything_ wrong, and -

“See, I _told_ you, I didn’t even need to touch them to know,” a female voice says, and wait, was that the alien with antennae who came with Thor and the other guys from space or whatever?

They do part, Steve’s arms still around his waist, just to take in the sight of _the entire damned room staring at them_ and yes, that’s her, what was the name, _Mantis_ , standing next to Peter Quill, or Star-Lord or whatever was his name, and looking at them with a grin on her face.

“To know _what_ ,” Bucky blurts.

“That you felt _sexual_ love for each other of course, I’m an empath,” she says brightly. “You were so obvious I could just feel it, and I told Peter I could just go and put you out of your misery but he said I shouldn’t dare, so -”

“Hey, it’s not our business,” Quill replies sheepishly, and -

Steve’s looking at him blushing under that beard and Bucky needs to be fucking out of here.

“Well, you’re welcome for the show, now I think we really need a couple minutes outside, _thank you_ ,” Bucky says, and drags Steve out of the room, not even minding when instead of holding on to his wrist his vibranium fingers drop downwards and grasp Steve’s as they walk out into the fresh air of the evening.

“Now _that_ was embarrassing,” he mutters, and then he looks back at Steve again, who isn’t disagreeing but is still staring at him as if he can’t believe they actually kissed, and -

“Hey,” Bucky says, “I’m sorry I did it in front of everyone, I just - I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time. Couldn’t wait.”

“No,” Steve shakes his head, “I don’t care. I mean, I guess most of them suspected it. I just - for a long time?”

“Say the thirties,” Bucky grins.

“… Fuck, we _really_ were both completely stupid, weren’t we?”

“I think,” Bucky says, “that while we can’t really hope to make up for _all_ that lost time before Thanos shows up again, _maybe_ we should start doing it now instead of discussing how stupid we were, how about it?”

“I think,” Steve says, and his lips are curling into a smile that shows his teeth and is even sweeter than the one he gave him back in the airport before, and Bucky’s knees might be about to falter right now, “that for once you’re talking absolute sense,” he grins, and then his hands are at the back of Bucky’s head holding it way more gently than Bucky did with him before and he’s leaning forward and they’re kissing again, just less rushed but with equal feeling, that’s for damn sure, and Bucky’s _fairly_ sure that someone’s snickering behind him.

Well, he’s going to thank Shuri later and so will Steve, he supposes.

 _Now_ , he has better things to worry about.

 

End.


End file.
